1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosed technology relates generally to a system and method for recording, uploading, and utilizing video recorded in real-time, and specifically to a front-end and back-end video archival system and method using video recorded in real-time to aid in emergency or weather response.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digitally watermarking or embedding data into recorded video is well known in the art. Modern mobile phones, digital cameras, and other mobile devices are capable of recording video anywhere a user is located, and uploading that video to common video archive websites, such as youtube.com. These mobile devices may also include GPS functionality, allowing the video to be tagged with location data and other relevant data so that anyone who ultimately views the video can determine where and when a video was taken.
Presently, such mobile user-submitted videos may be uploaded to video archival or video sharing networks, but the value of the embedded video data is typically underused. For instance, a video may be uploaded to a publicly available video archive database where numerous end users are able to view the video, but the video may not be used immediately and the relevance of the time and location of the video that has been uploaded loses value.
Typical video archive databases either include embedded video data as an afterthought, or limit the access of that data to selected users. One such example of selective use of video data is U.S. Pat. No. 7,633,914 to Shaffer et al. (the '914 patent). Although video data may be uploaded and used for assessing critical security or other means in the geographic area of the video data, the '914 patent relies on users who have already accessed “virtual talk groups” to upload relevant video data. That video data is then only immediately accessible to members of the same virtual talk groups, which limits the effectiveness of the video data to a small number of users.
Embedded video or photograph data is also used by police departments for accurate evidence collection. U.S. Pat. No. 7,487,112 to Barnes, Jr. (the “112 patent”) describes this ability, but limits the use of the uploaded video or photographic data to the police department. Video or photographic data uploaded to the collection server is stored and not immediately used in any capacity. Such a technique merely simplifies the tasks of a police officer during evidence collection and does not fully embrace the value of embedded video data.
What is needed is a system which provides mobile users the ability to record video with embedded data, upload that video to a commonly accessible database where the video may be immediately reviewed, and any particular value that can be gathered from the uploaded video be submitted to emergency crews or other relevant parties for immediate review of the recently uploaded video. Heretofore there has not been a video archival system or method with the capabilities of the invention presented herein.